The first novel written by Rendell under the
nom-de-plume of Barbara Vine, A Dark-Adapted Eye
could be read as a long argument against the death penalty. It also
established a perennial theme of the Vine novels, how extreme
passion within families, particularly between parents (especially
mothers) and children, is ultimately unfathomable and yet has
profound effects on succeeding generations. Desire is “dark” in two
senses for Vine’s novels. It can motivate cruelty, violence and
crime, as well as manifesting as something darkly unknowable about
the nature of human beings. In A Dark-Adapted Eye, an
apparently ordinary woman, Vera, is hanged in the 1950s for the
murder of her beloved sister, Edith …

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16821A Dark-Adapted Eye3Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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